Heard Today In the Ballet Studio... (And One Big "In Other News")

A continuation of the different opera arias/scenes I hear played on the pianos in our beautiful dance studios.
Today:

"Quando M'en Vo" from... well we all know. It was bound to come up eventually.
What I call the "Gypsy Chorus" from Act III of La Traviata. When the ladies (usually with tambourines) come out at Flora's party. We used this for frappes.

IN OTHER NEWS:
ROBERTO ALAGNA IS GOING BACK TO LA SCALA.
Big news. I was kind of shocked, but not at the same time. I figured that eventually they would rehire him because he's such a star, but I thought they would punish him a tad bit longer.
He is going to appear in Carmen and Simon Boccanegra alongside Placido Domingo.
Alagna is forgiven. Let's just hope that either the loggionisti keep their mouths shut, or Roberto learns to suck it up.


Happy Listening!!! =)

Met in the Park Gone (After My First Season!) And My Summer Plans Are in Sudden Disaray!

So after last summer's performance I vowed to go every year to the Met in the Parks concerts. Now that I planned my whole summer around going (not really... hyperbole is my specialty!) Mr. Gelb is cancelling them (for good?), but have no fear! The Alagnas are here! They're doing a concert (not a full length opera) in Prospect Park.

This is a big scale down (even though Mr. Gelb would have us supposed otherwise) and according to some it's due to the "financial troubles" (total Rumor Patrol) that the Met has been having. If that's the case then scale it down! We'll just miss all the history and tradition that goes along with the park concerts. =(

NOTE: This is not a reproach on Mr. Gelb. He has done so many great things for the Met. The Sirius Radio, the HD movie transmissions, the press... The list goes on! We can't expect these things to pop out of thin air and not cost a significant amount of money. I still support Peter Gelb. We can't turn on him (I'm not saying anyone has, I'm just warning) because of this. He knew that it would take some time to pay all of this off. Yes. Of course! I just hope that he can continue with the great things he has planned for our glorious temple of opera.
Viva Peter Gelb!
Viva!


Happy Listening!!! =)

Who's Excited For Boheme in HD???

Me! Me! I'm excited!!!!

My local movie theater is showing it today. It's the first one they've done, so I'm praying there's no glitches. I easily bought tickets this morning (hardly in advance...), so I hope that doesn't mean that there won't be a lot of people there. I know of quite a few opera enthusiasts in town. However, some might have gone to the bigger movie theater a couple of towns over. Oh well, I'm pumped.

Speaking of HD Broadcasts, I loved the Romeo et Juliette the other night on PBS. I remembered so much about it from seeing it in October. Of course, I saw Marcello Giordani and he was fabulous, but Alagna held his own. Anna was great, and when she passed the camera backstage she made a funny face which I thought was cute. Some of the camera angles were amazing, especially during curtain calls. I'm just upset they didn't show the intermission features.

Happy Listening!!! =)

Madama Butterfly at the Met

Cio-Cio-San- Patricia Racette
Pinkerton- Roberto Alagna
Suzuki- Maria Zifchak
Sharpless- Luca Salsi
Production- Anthony Minghella
Conductor- Mark Elder


Before the overture even started, all the lights went dark. Even the orchestra pit was dark. The curtain come up and a woman comes over the "hill" and the back of the stage. She has two fans and when she reaches the middle of the stage you see that there are two long red scarves flowing from the back of her dress. The orchestra lights come on and the music begins. The audience sits there gaping at the dancing before the action even begins.

That's what an opera performance is all about. There is an awe in the audience before anyone even sings a note. Gorgeoussssssss!!!!!!
Although, as many of you know, Roberto Alagna is not my favorite singer I enjoyed his performance. His singing was good and so was his acting. He moved very comfortably, despite his very unlikable character. He succeeded in making Pinkerton more likable than most tenors do. I'm not quite sure how he did it, but I didn't find myself screaming "Jerk!" like I do with most Pinkertons. Maybe that's a good quality of Mr. Alagna??
Patricia Racette was really fantastic. Her "Un Bel Di" had tears in my eyes, at least. It's just so heartbreaking that she has so much hope and then... well, you know. Patricia Racette is a powerhouse! No wonder everyone speaks so highly of her. That final scene was so haunting. The puppet (we'll get to that...) has the blindfold on and she stabs herself. The lights turn red and the people in black come on and take long red scarves from her dress. They spread it out as Pinkerton runs up the hill screaming "Butterfly!" Oh, so effective! Puccini was brilliant! My friend and I both had the sniffles during that part.
So, the puppet. Yes, Butterfly and Pinkerton's child was played by a wooden puppet. It was distracting at first, and I would never quite forget that there were three people dressed in black maneuvering it, but it was interesting. After a while it didn't really make a difference whether it was a puppet or not, in my opinion.
I'm sorry that this production is completely sold out, because I wanted to tell you all to go out and get tickets! Maybe next season? Well, if they revive it in future seasons, which I'm sure they will, everyone must go see it. It's magnificent!

Happy Listening! =)

Angela Gheorghiu Gets FIRED and more other news

Let's do the "other news first."
It has been announced that, to many people's dismay, Isabel Bayrakdarian has taken (ahem) a 9 month hiatus. Her replacement will be soprano Lisette Oropesa who will sing Susanna at the premiere of Le Nozze di Figaro and at least one other performance. Ms. Oropesa is a member of the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Very impressive. Maybe I'll see her then? If I'm not seeing her, then I might be seeing Ekaterina Siurina or our lovable TBA in the role of Susanna.

ANGELA GHEORGIU HAS BEEN FIRED FROM THE CHICAO LYRIC OPERA. Ms. Gheorghiu was fired from the production of La Boheme because she "missed 6 out of 10 rehearsals, including a piano dress rehearsal and both staging rehearsals with the orchestra." She apparently also missed a critical stage-orchestra rehearsal. Ms. Gheorghiu also violated her contract when she left unanounced to go to New York. Oh, and one more thing, La Gheorghiu was spotted at the premiere of Gounod's Romeo et Jiuliette at the Met. And who was staring as the leading man that night? None other than her husband, Roberto Alagna. Coincidence? I would think not. =O Scandaloussssss